Pandora Predictions Chart: Finding The Next One Direction

In this round of the Pandora Predictions Chart, they’re taking a look at the jazz funk boy band group Forever In Your Mind, set to potentially fill the void left by the currently defunct One Direction.

The Pandora Predictions Chart tends to be a rather eclectic place. Unlike the usually rap-dominated Trendsetters Chart, this one — which uses artists’ social data to predict those most likely to make the Billboard 200 chart for the first time within a year — is often home to artists from a variety of genres, from indie rock to hip-hop to, most recently, vaguely Dadaist pop.

And this week is no exception, with a budding boy band, a kitschy jazz funk group, and a pop star who speaks almost exclusively in baby talk, sings about life in the Internet era and is, in essence, a total anomaly.

As One Direction continues their “hiatus” — cough, cough, breakup — who will step up to fill their NASA spacesuits? Potentially no one, but Forever In Your Mind are quickly emerging as contenders. And they’re cut from the same cloth as 1D, too: Emery Kelly, Ricky Garcia and Jon Klaasen were all competing onThe X Factor when judge Simon Cowell decided to lump them together to form a boy band. While they didn’t fare as well on the show — 1D finished third, while FIYM didn’t make it to the final 16 — now, they seem to be doing just fine.

Two years after Klaasen was replaced by Liam Attridge, the trio released their debut EP, FIYM, in July, and later that month they debuted on the Predictions Chart at #14. For their 10th week on the chart, they’re at #4 after gaining serious traction on Facebook and Twitter, seeing an average of 826 Twitter mentions per day over the last 30 days. This week compared to last week, they saw a 38.9% increase in Facebook Page Likes.

Right behind them at #5, but in an entirely different universe, is That Poppy, the aforementioned caricature pop star whose strange, deeply ironic videos continue to gain traction on YouTube, while her four-track EP, Bubblebath, is starting to bubble over on both Pandora and Vevo. She saw a week-on-week 16.99% increase in Vevo views, with “Lowlife” seeing a 66.18% week-on-week jump and “Altar” seeing a 56.45% uptick.

But no one compares to Dua Lipa, who’s been comfortable sitting in the top three of the Predictions Chart for the better part of 27 weeks and who could very easily be the next big pop star. (More on that here.) Swedish rapper Yung Lean follows, spending his 24th week on the chart after adding an average of 134,359.4 YouTube views per day over the last seven days.

Elsewhere on the Predictions Chart is Vulfpeck, a Michigan-bred kitsch-loving jazz-funk group that are back at #16 on the chart after dropping off for a week, and Krept and Konan, an English Grime duo who jumped a spot this week to #8.4